Edging of Kitchen, Bathroom and Office Furniture Task Customers buying high-end furniture expect a faultless look with no visible joints. This poses a challenge to furniture manufacturers, because conventional gluing of the edging tape at the transition from the panel covering layer to the narrow side of the furniture item’s rim leaves a clearly visible glue joint. Reliable in processing, efficient and incurring low operating cost: high-performance diode lasers meet those new quality challenges in the furniture industry. Procedure The first tests began at the customer’s technical center with a fiber-coupled 2 kW diode laser and a special optic which maps a highly homogeneous linear focus along the edging band. The polymer edge is melted on one side directly before the feed point to the narrow face of the wood panel and is then compressed by rollers. The surface heating with the laser is followed by rapid cooling, so the joint is strong enough for immediate postprocessing. Based on that method, IMA Klessmann GmbH, a leading international manufacturer of production plants for the furniture industry, launched the technique of laser edge banding by diode laser. Processing of various edging tape heights was implemented by means of a zoom optic with an adjustable linear focus. The zoom is adapted to the application in consultation with the customer and can be ideally integrated into the woodworking machine. Result The fiber-coupled diode laser type LDM 3000-100 with 3 kW laser power meets the requirements imposed and has been successfully introduced by IMA Klessmann GmbH since 2010 as an entry-level solution for laser edge banding. The jointly developed zoom optic features a motor-adjustable linear range of 12-54 mm and is suitable for almost all commonly used edging tapes. The glueless thus seamless joint makes the furniture component steamresistant, and it looks like it is made ‘from a single piece’, a major advantage for kitchen and bathroom furniture. Laser technology eliminates the need for a time- and laborconsuming glue change to process different edge tape colors and also allows for one-piece manufacturing. Material: Edging tape with absorbent functional layer Task: Jointless edge banding of different tape heights Laser: LDM 3000-100, LDF 4000- to LDF 6000-100 Optic: Linear optic, optionally: zoom optic Parameters: 0-50 m/min welding speed Result: Seamless furniture component

We reserve the right for errors and alterations. LDM Matrix Heat treatment / Hardening Cladding Welding Plastic welding Pumping LDM 3000-100, LDF 4000-100, LDF 6000-100 Fraunhofer Straße | 56218 Mülheim-Kärlich, Germany China Laserline Laser Technology (Shanghai) Co. Ltd. | www.laserline.cn Japan Laserline K.K. | www.laserline.jp Korea Laserline Korea Co. Ltd. | www.laserline.co.kr Laserline GmbH ©2013, Laserline GmbH. All rights reserved. Printed on environmentally friendly paper | 130425 Headquarters Subsidiaries Representatives Laserline has a worldwide presence, with subsidiaries and representatives...